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! SOME  FEATURES  OF  THE  RELATIONS  BE= 

i 

TWEEN  PUBLIC  LIBRARIES  AND 
PUBLIC  SCHOOLS. 

FRANK  C.  PATTEN,  LIBRARIAN  PUBLIC  LIBRARY, 
HELENA,  MONTANA. 


[Paper  'presented  before  the  Montana  State 
Teachers’  association,  December  28,  1895,  at  the 
annual  conference  at  Anaconda.  Reprinted  from 
Montana  Educator , April,  1896.] 

More  and  more,  interest  is  everywhere  being 
shown  in  means  for  bringing  public  libraries  and  pub- 
lic schools  into  closer  relations.  Librarians  are  in- 
quiring how  they  can  make  the  library  of  more  ser- 
vice to  teachers  and  pupils,  and  superintendents  and 
teachers  are  devising  ways  of  using  the  resources  of 
the  library  so  as  to  make  its  influence  more  effective 
in  the  lives  of  pupils.  Many  means  are  being  used 
for  bringing  the  work  of  the  public  library  and  the 
work  of  the  public  school  into  closer  and  more  inti- 
mate connection.  I purpose  in  this  paper  to  make  brief 
mention  of  some  of  these  means  now  employed  in  our 
own  city  and  elsewhere. 


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The  best  general  plan  that  I know  of  is  one  that 
is  in  very  successful  operation  at  Milwaukee,  Wis- 
consin. ‘'The  teacher  comes  to  the  library  and  se- 
lects from  the  shelves  a number  of  books,  in  propor- 
tion to  the  size  of  her  class,  i.  e. , 50  pupils — 50  books. 
These  are  sent  to  the  schools,  and  issued  by  the 
teachers  for  home  use.  The  selection  is  made  from 
all  branches  of  literature — mythology,  science,  useful 
arts,  fine  arts,  poetry,  history,  travel,  biography,  fairy 
stories,  stories  of  adventure,  etc.”  Each  pupil  is 
provided  with  a borrower’s  library  card  in  the  regu- 
lar way.  In  this  manner  43,000  books  were  loaned  in 
1894.  A full  account  of  the  Milwaukee  plan  may  be 
found  in  the  Educational  Review  for  November, 
1894,  written  by  the  superintendent  of  the  Milwaukee 
public  schools.  By  practically  the  same  method  the 
number  of  loans  was  16,000  in  Grand  Rapids,  Michi- 
gan, and  38,000  in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  in  1894.  A sim- 
ilar plan  is  in  operation  in  many  cities. 

Among  the  public  libraries  there  is  now  a tend- 
ency to  provide  a department  for  young  people.  At 
the  Minneapolis  public  library  there  are  in  this  de- 
partment about  10,000  volumes.  A person  specially 
fitted  for  the  work  is  in  charge  of  the  department. 
The  children  are  allowed  to  go  to  the  shelves  and 
select  for  themselves,  there  being  some  supervision  on 
the  part  of  the  lady  in  charge.  The  young  people  are 


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attracted  to  this  department  because  the  books  and 
periodicals  of  interest  to  them  are  to  be  found  there. 
They  are  not  excluded  from  the  other  departments  of 
the  library.  The  plan  has  been  in  operation  about 
two  years  and  the  librarian  considers  the  results  ex- 
cellent. There  are  many  other  plans  which  might  be 
mentioned. 

In  Helena,  the  public  library  is  much  hampered 
by  lack  of  funds.  Too  small  a building  and  rush  of 
work  make  it  impossible  for  us  to  do  all  we  wish  to 
do.  Teachers  seem  ready  and  willing  to  make  good 
use  of  such  library  facilities  as  we  have.  The  library 
staff  desires  to  co-operate  with  them  to  the  fullest 
possible  extent.  Children  in  the  public  schools  are 
learning  to  use  the  public  library  by  actual  use. 
Teachers  send  pupils  to  the  library  to  ascer- 
tain certain  facts,  and  they  thus  learn  the  use  of  ref- 
erence books.  They  come  to  find  answers  to  ques- 
tions that  will  introduce  them  to  the  books  of  his- 
tory, economics  and  the  trades  and  practical  arts. 
They  are  sent  to  get  certain  books  to  read  that  will 
introduce  them  to  the  great  literature  of  the  world. 
Pupils  are  sent  to  get  books  of  travel  to  read  in  con- 
nection with  their  geography  lessons,  and  the  same 
with  reference  to  other  school  studies.  Teachers  get 
books  in  order  to  read  them  to  their  pupils,  and  in  or- 
der to  awaken  the  interest  of  pupils  in  the  books  by 


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showing  the  illustrations,  reading  extracts,  talking 
about  them,  etc.  Teachers  get  books  to  help  them 
in  their  own  work  of  presenting  their  pupils  with  in- 
teresting facts  in  botany,  zoology,  mineralogy,  etc. 

There  is  great  gain  in  all  the  possible  ways  of 
using  the  library  with  definite  ends  in  view.  If  a 
teacher  wishes  to  come  to  the  library  with  her  class 
in  order  to  examine  all  the  histories,  the  pictures  and 
the  reference  books  relating  to  the  history  of  Eng- 
land in  the  time  of  Henry  VIII,  we  want  she  should 
have  every  possible  facility  for  doing  so;  for  the  li- 
brary should  be  just  such  a laboratory.  If  a teacher 
wishes  to  come  to  the  library  with  her  class  in  order 
to  examine  the  best  books  on  economics,  tell  her  class 
the  special  merits  and  demerits  of  each,  tell  them  the 
standing  of  the  authors  in  the  world  of  thought  and 
on  which  side  of  the  question  each  has  written,  tell 
them  which  books  are  the  latest  contributions  to  the 
subject,  which  are  clear  in  style  and  lucid  in  thought, 
which  are  for  the  beginner  and  which  are  for  the  ad- 
vanced student — if  she  wishes  thus  to  spread  forth  to 
her  pupils  the  literature  of  the  subject  in  discriminat- 
ing fashion,  we  want  she  should  come  and  have  every 
needed  opportunity;  for  books  are  tools  and  the 
library  is  a workshop,  the  uses  of  which  cannot  be 
too  well  taught  or  learned.  If  a teacher  comes  to  us 
and  says:  “In  our  class  for  the  next  four  weeks  we 


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are  to  make  special  use  of  Emerton’s  Middle  Ages; 
can  you  make  one  of  your  copies  a reference  book  for 
that  length  of  time,  so  that  every  pupil  will  have  a 
chance  to  use  it?”  our  reply  would  most  certainly  be 
an  assent.  And  so  we  ever  try  to  co-operate  with 
the  teacher  in  her  plans. 

The  young  people  of  Helena  are  learning  better 

and  better  how  to  use  the  public  library.  About  15 
per  cent  of  our  books  are  books  for  the  young.  We 
wish  that  the  percentage  were  larger.  The  use  of 
these  keeps  increasing,  and  it  is  now  about  one  third 
of  the  whole  use.  We  take  great  pains  in  the  selection 
of  the  books  we  buy  for  young  people.  There  is  some 
light  reading,  but  bad  books  are  excluded,  so  that 
the  future  increase  in  this  proportion  of  use  of  books 
for  the  young  will  be  as  gratifying  to  us  as  has  been 
the  past  increase. 

The  Helena  public  library  has  issued  two  bul- 
letin lists  of  young  people’s  books.  Both  of  these 
lists  have  been  something  more  than  mere  lists. 
Descriptive  notes  have  been  given  in  connection  with 
each  title,  intended  to  give  to  the  reader  a better  idea 
of  the  book  and  its  author  than  the  title  alone  would 
convey.  One  of  these  lists  was  issued  in  June,  1894, 
and  the  other  in  December,  1895.  In  the  latter  bul- 
letin I have  had  a few  words  to  say  about  the  reading 
of  young  people,  and  have  mentioned  and  character- 


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ized  seven  valuable  lists  of  books  for  the  young.  The 
best  of  these  lists  are  mentioned  first  and  are  quite 
inexpensive.  It  would  be  well  for  the  teacher  to  own 
them.  It  is  hoped  that  this  second  bulletin  list  of 
books  for  young  people  may  prove  to  be  as  useful  to 
teachers  and  pupils  as  the  former  list  seemed  to  be. 
There  was  a large  call  for  the  former  bulletin,  both  at 
home  and  outside  of  the  city  and  state.  Copies  of 
both  may  be  had  on  application. 

I would  like  to  call  attention  to  three  little  books, 
not  lists,  that  I am  sure  would  prove  helpful  and  in- 
spiring to  many  a teacher.  These  are: 

1.  Literature  in  school,  by  Horace  E.  Scudder, 
1888.  (Houghton,  Mifflin  & Co.,  15  cents.)  Mr. 
Scudder  was  formerly  a teacher,  has  written  good 
books  for  young  people,  and  has  given  this  matter 
lifelong  attention. 

2.  On  the  study  of  literature,  a university  ex- 
tension address  in  London  in  1887,  by  John  Morley. 
(Macmillan  & Co.,  50  cents.) 

3.  The  choice  of  books,  by  Frederic  Harrison, 
1888.  (Macmillan  & Co.,  75  cents.) 

Teachers  have  the  opportunity  to  acquire  a very 
keen  sense  of  the  needs  of  their  pupils.  They  get 
acquainted  with  them  individually,  study  the  nature 
of  each  child,  and  come  to  the  library  for  co-opera- 
tion. Mr.  James  M.  Sawin,  principal  of  one  of  the 


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grammar  schools  of  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  speaks 
from  an  experience  of  27  years  in  guiding  the  reading  of 
pupils.  He  is  described  as  a man  whose  “choice  of 
a book  for  a given  purpose  is  made  with  as  minute 
care  as  a surgeon  would  use  in  selecting  his  instru- 
ments.” It  is  his  belief  “that  reading  of  some  kind 
on  the  part  of  the  pupil  is  inevitable;  and  that  it  is 
simply  a question  whether  the  teacher  shall  use  the 
unequalled  opportunity  in  his  hands,  for  diverting  the 
stream  of  reading  into  the  channels  of  the  best  litera- 
ture or  not.”  Nearly  all  children  easily  gain  a taste 
for  good  literature,  if  they  only  get  the  right  start. 
After  their  tastes  are  formed  otherwise,  it  may  be  a 
difficult  matter  to  effect  the  desired  change.  The 
whole  question  of  a taste  for  good  literature  is  largely 
the  problem  of  children’s  reading.  I want  to  quote 
to  you  a striking  statement  from  the  experienced  pen 
of  Mr.  Horace  E.  Scudder.  It  is  in  the  Atlantic 
monthly  for  February,  1894,  (v.  73,  p.  257),  in  an 
article  entitled  “The  educational  law  of  reading  and 
writing.”  “There  can  be  no  manner  of  question  that 
between  the  ages  of  six  and  sixteen  a large  part  of  the 
best  literature  of  the  world  may  be  read,  if  taken  up 
systematically  in  school,  and  that  the  man  or  woman 
who  fails  to  become  acquainted  with  great  literature 
in  some  form  during  that  time  is  little  likely  to  have 
a taste  formed  later.” 


